The King Trials 2: Beyond.

True Blood.

Nine cycles ago.

The Second Equinox

Tharul 1004

"Stand up."

Breathing hard, I dismissed her with my free hand. "At least... allow me to catch my breath."

"Up!" Seliah pointed the tip of her sword at my chest, eyes glowering. "You're clearly holding back. What, you do not think I can take you on full force? Your arrogance will be your downfall, sister."

I gripped my sword, rising. "It's only practice." A smirk dangled on the edge of my lips. "Father is not even watching."

Her face distorted into a foul look. "Unlike you, I do not desperately seek his attention, golden girl."

"No," I harmonised. I brandished my sword in an impressive display of swordsmanship. "You seek his approval. His love."

Seliah lashed out at me and our blades crossed, the outdoor courtyard resounds with the clang of metal. In her eyes, long-preserved spite shimmered in them, underlying but constant.

"I wanted to hate this place," she seethed, emotions fuelled her verve, her face glistening from exertion.

She and I traded a flurry of attacks and parries.

"I wanted to hate father. The one who tore me from my people, my mother—" she spins low, hair whipping around her. In a crouched position she jabbed her elbow into my gut, knocking the air right out of me in a whoosh, causing me to double over, fumbling backwards.

"—all because the Domus took pity on his complication," she spat out. "Another disappointment."

I lengthened my spine. "Is that...what you...think you are?" I asked between coughs.

She glared back at me with a look that could melt the sun. "Compared to you? Possibly. I know he wanted a son, instead I was born. Your mother makes it a religious act to remind me so. And now, I must contend with his perfect, true blood heir."

"How long have you felt this way?"

"Ever since I was brought to this place." She unleased her pain and frustration on me, initiating a sequence of assaults, swift, brutal but sloppy. She wasn't thinking tactic, she was reacting on emotion.

She struck overhead. I blocked it. "I wanted to hate you."

Anger swelled in my chest. In a rapid motion, I parried her blade aside, and I launched into a three-sixty crescent kick, smacking her sword from her grasp, sending it clattering across the paved floor.

I raised my sword to aim it at her neck threateningly. "You are a Valwa now. You always have been and always will. So that means being one. Thinking smart or at least with common sense."

Her gaze darted between me and the blade's brink levelled at her throat.

"I will not pretend to know what you have been through in the past. But I understand what... father's decision had done to your life, introducing you into a society that looks down on half-bloods. A house that's not really a home. A world completely unknown to you."

I lowered my sword and offered her a smile. "You cannot control what life does to you, but you do have control over how you react to it. With the other nobles and highborns, by blood you have earned yourself a seat at the table. You do not need to prove yourself to anyone."

I walked forward so I could stand right in front of her. "With my mother. She may spew hate towards you, but the only thing she loathes is herself. She knows her failure led to father's infidelity. But thank the Most High for it because it gave me you."

She met my gaze and clung to it. "And with father." I clasped a hand on her shoulder. Tension eased. "You do not need to fight for something you already have. He cares for you as much as I, which is why he wanted you to live here. Not out of pity but out of love. Half-blood or not. You are my blood."

Her eyes glossed over, and she managed a faltering smile, nodding meekly.

"It is good to see you two playing nice," Burg announced, his voice laced with ridicule. He emerged from one of the outdoor entrances, striding towards us with his nose to the sky. "Though next time, I prefer it be without blades and perhaps with tapestry or with a tea set."

I turned to face him, shielding my eyes from the sunlight. "You sound like the Domina. Has she poisoned you against us?"

Burg glanced down to cast me a reproachful glare. "I came to inform you to bathe, I could smell you from all the way inside the Regnum. Then go to the library for your next lesson of the day. History."

Seliah released a tortured groan. "Again?"

"Is father giving the lesson?" I asked.

"No, his substitute will. Your father is due to convene with the Decuria."

This was the third time in the last two full moons. It must be urgent.

Seliah wiped her sweaty forearm across her forehead. "We really need a recess. I am not in the mood to hear of more war stories or the gruesome battles that took place during Pavelia."

Burg clapped his hand with mock excitement. "Fortunately for you, it is not. This is about how the Great Realm War begun and how the Ulris breached our world. Have you heard about the onyx stones?"